Transmitting means for transmitting an output signal, receiving means for receiving an output signal, and methods for transmitting and receiving the same

ABSTRACT

A transmitter for transmitting an output signal includes first and second filter structures. The first filter structure includes a first combiner to extend a first data signal by a first reference signal to obtain a first extended data signal, and a first IIR filter for filtering the first extended data signal to obtain a first filtered data signal. The second filter structure includes a second combiner to extend a second data signal by a second reference signal, and a second IIR filter for filtering the second extended data signal. The transmitter includes a multiplexer for combining the first and second filtered data signals to obtain the output signal. A system response of the first IIR filter based on the first reference signal corresponds to a system response of the second IIR filter based on the second reference signal.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of copending InternationalApplication No. PCT/EP2015/075601, filed Nov. 3, 2015, which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety, and additionallyclaims priority from German Application No. DE 10 2014 222 511.6, filedNov. 4, 2014, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a transmitting means for transmittingan output signal, a receiving means for receiving an output signal, andmethods for transmitting or receiving an output signal. The presentinvention also relates to highly parallel signal processing in filtersfor forward error correction (FEC), filters with infinite impulseresponse (IIR), in particular Tomlinson-Harashima precoding (THP)filters, and filters with finite impulse response (FIR) filters formulti-gigabit data transfer.

A serial baseband data transfer with a high throughput (in themulti-gigabit range), involves compensating for attenuation in thechannel even when using a higher-order modulation method. Thecompensation filters are digitally implemented due to the higherlinearity requirement (compared to binary modulation). Data processingin digital compensation filters is often parallelized for systems withmulti-gigabit throughput since even modern CMOS processes(CMOS=Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) are limited with regardto the maximum possible clock rates.

In general, FIR filters and IIR filters can be used to compensate forthe transfer function. A Tomlinson-Harashima precoder, THP, is aparticular form of the IIR filter.

To improve the bit error rate, block encoding is usually used in theform of forward error correction (FEC). Since a redundancy (parity bits)allocated to specific data is encoded in such methods, the data isdecoded in the respective same block. This may involve a cyclicinsertion of a known marker sequence, a so-called framing of the data,and a synchronization of the frame starts for processing.

Such high-bitrate serial links are also used in the multiplex operationfor different data streams. For example, different buses, protocolsand/or users are accumulated and separated again. Also, various datasources may be transmitted or received, e.g., to the network node, by alocal connection of other networks and local data sinks/sources via thelink.

A known solution for the present problem is illustrated in FIG. 8. Data1002 from possibly different sources 1004 (data source DQ1, DQ2, DQn) iscombined with a multiplexer 1006 into a serial data stream. In thiscase, the multiplexer can bring blocks of different sizes from differentsources into any order. This serial data stream then passes throughsignal processing on the transmitting means side including a FEC 1008and a predistortion by means of a THP filter 1012. Then, the data streamis transferred, i.e., the following occurs: a digital/analog (D/A)conversion 1014, a transfer via a medium 1016, an analog/digital (A/D)conversion 1018 and an optional amplification of the analog or digitalsignal. On the receiving means side, the signal passes through signalprocessing in the same or equivalent sequence. This includes a channelequalization (feedforward equalizer, FFE) by means of a FIR filter 1022and a FEC 1024 on a decoder side (Dec). Thereafter, the data isre-divided by a demultiplexer 1026 and forwarded to various data sinks1028 (DS1, DS2, DSn).

In order to increase throughput rates, a continuous parallelization ofTHP filters in conjunction with a decreasing efficiency at an increasingparallelization is known. A THP/IIR filter structure can be transformedsuch that feedback paths of the IIR filters are eliminated without orwith a low delay. Due to the longer feedback paths, known pipeliningstrategies can be employed, which for a moderate increase in theachievable clock rates for IIR/THP filters. These methods remain limiteddue to the achievable clock rates in CMOS processes. For FIR filters,the methods Overlap-Save and Overlap-Add are known in order to increaseclock rates.

SUMMARY

According to an embodiment, a transmitter for transmitting an outputsignal may have: a first filter structure having a first combinerconfigured to extend a first data signal by a first reference signal inorder to acquire a first extended data signal, and having a first IIRfilter for filtering the first extended data signal in order to acquirea first filtered data signal; a second filter structure having a secondcombiner configured to extend a second data signal by a second referencesignal in order to acquire a second extended data signal, and having asecond IIR filter for filtering the second extended data signal in orderto acquire a second filtered data signal; a multiplexer for combiningthe first and second filtered data signals in order to acquire theoutput signal based on the filtered data signals; wherein a systemresponse of the first IIR filter based on the first reference signalcorresponds to a system response of the second IIR filter based on thesecond reference signal, wherein the first and second combiners areconfigured to insert the reference signal in front of and after a datablock of the data signal, and wherein the IIR filters, the multiplexeror a signal former are configured to reject an acquired filteredreference signal based on the reference signal placed in front of sothat the output signal has the filtered data signals and the filteredreference signals inserted after the data block and does not have thefiltered reference signals inserted in front of the data block.

According to another embodiment, a receiver for receiving an outputsignal may have: a demultiplexer for generating a first and a secondreceiving signal from the received output signal, wherein the outputsignal has reference signals between data blocks of the output signal,which are a system-wide known preamble; a first receiving structurehaving a first equalization filter for equalizing the first receivingsignal, and having a first separator configured to separate a firstreference signal from the equalized first receiving signal; a secondreceiving structure having a second equalization filter for equalizingthe second receiving signal, and having a second separator configured toseparate a second reference signal from the equalized second receivingsignal.

According to another embodiment, a transfer system may have: aninventive transmitter; an inventive receiver; wherein the transmitterand the receiver are coupled via a transfer medium.

According to another embodiment, a method for transmitting an outputsignal may have the steps of: extending a first data signal by a firstreference signal in order to acquire a first extended data signal;filtering the first extended data signal with a first IIR filter inorder to acquire a first filtered data signal; extending a second datasignal by a second reference signal in order to acquire a secondextended data signal; filtering the second extended data signal with asecond IIR filter in order to acquire a second filtered data signal;combining the first and second filtered data signals in order to acquirethe output signal based on the filtered data signals; wherein a systemresponse of the first IIR filter based on the first reference signalcorresponds to a system response of the second IIR filter based on thesecond reference signal, wherein the reference signal is inserted infront of and after a data block of the data signal, and wherein anacquired filtered reference signal is rejected based on the referencesignal placed in front of so that the output signal has the filtereddata signals and the filtered reference signals inserted after the datablock and does not have the filtered reference signals inserted in frontof the data block.

According to another embodiment, a method for receiving an output signalmay have the steps of: generating a first and a second receiving signalfrom the received output signal, wherein the output signal has referencesignals between data blocks of the output signal, which are asystem-wide known preamble; equalizing the first receiving signal;separating a first reference signal from the equalized first receivingsignal; equalizing the second receiving signal; separating a secondreference signal from the equalized second receiving signal; andfiltering a signal portion of the first or the second equalizedreceiving signal with a plurality of feedback filters in order toacquire a plurality of filtered signal portions according to theplurality of feedback filters in such a way that two successive signalportions partially overlap in an overlapping portion; combining theplurality of filtered signal portions to the filtered data signal andrejecting overlapping sequences of the filtered signal portionsallocated to the overlapping portion of a first and a second filteredsignal portion; and combining two filtered signal portions of twosuccessive signal portions and rejecting an overlapping sequence withthe overlapping portion of the second filtered signal portion followingthe first.

Another embodiment may have a non-transitory digital storage mediumhaving a computer program stored thereon to perform the method fortransmitting an output signal, having: extending a first data signal bya first reference signal in order to acquire a first extended datasignal; filtering the first extended data signal with a first IIR filterin order to acquire a first filtered data signal; extending a seconddata signal by a second reference signal in order to acquire a secondextended data signal; filtering the second extended data signal with asecond IIR filter in order to acquire a second filtered data signal;combining the first and second filtered data signals in order to acquirethe output signal based on the filtered data signals; wherein a systemresponse of the first IIR filter based on the first reference signalcorresponds to a system response of the second IIR filter based on thesecond reference signal, wherein the reference signal is inserted infront of and after a data block of the data signal, and wherein anacquired filtered reference signal is rejected based on the referencesignal placed in front of so that the output signal has the filtereddata signals and the filtered reference signals inserted after the datablock and does not have the filtered reference signals inserted in frontof the data block, when said computer program is run by a computer.

Another embodiment may have a non-transitory digital storage mediumhaving a computer program stored thereon to perform the method forreceiving an output signal, having: generating a first and a secondreceiving signal from the received output signal, wherein the outputsignal has reference signals between data blocks of the output signal,which are a system-wide known preamble; equalizing the first receivingsignal; separating a first reference signal from the equalized firstreceiving signal; equalizing the second receiving signal; separating asecond reference signal from the equalized second receiving signal; andfiltering a signal portion of the first or the second equalizedreceiving signal with a plurality of feedback filters in order toacquire a plurality of filtered signal portions according to theplurality of feedback filters in such a way that two successive signalportions partially overlap in an overlapping portion; combining theplurality of filtered signal portions to the filtered data signal andrejecting overlapping sequences of the filtered signal portionsallocated to the overlapping portion of a first and a second filteredsignal portion; and combining two filtered signal portions of twosuccessive signal portions and rejecting an overlapping sequence withthe overlapping portion of the second filtered signal portion followingthe first, when said computer program is run by a computer.

A core idea of the present invention is to have recognized that theabove object can be solved by the fact that signal processing ofdifferent data signals can already occur before multiplexing the same,and that by combining the data signals with a reference signal, an equalor comparable system response of the IIR filter with respect to thereference signal and with respect to other filtered data streams can beobtained. The equal or comparable system responses enable joining thedifferent filtered data streams by the multiplexer so that the datastream obtained by the multiplexer acts (monolithically) as if filteredby a monolithic, i.e., single filter. This allows for a high net datathroughput through the channel since the data stream can be continuouslydemodulated or decoded. In this way, a settling time of the equalizingfilters can be reduced and/or a data throughput can be increased.Furthermore, channel coding can occur parallelized, which, when thefilter complexity remains the same, leads to an increased datathroughput by the increased number of filters. Furthermore, a powerdissipation of the filters can be reduced by preadjusting the filters toa system response to be obtained, which the respective filter suppliesas a response to the reference signal, so that providing the filter withthe reference signal itself can partly be omitted, resulting in areduced power dissipation of the filter.

According to an embodiment, a transmitting means includes a first filterstructure comprising a first combiner configured to extend a first datasignal by a first reference signal in order to obtain a first extendeddata signal. The first filter structure includes a first IIR filter forfiltering the first extended data signal in order to obtain a firstfiltered data signal. The transmitting means includes a second filterstructure comprising a second combiner configured to extend a seconddata signal by a second reference signal in order to obtain a secondextended data signal. The second filter structure includes a second IIRfilter for filtering the second extended data signal in order to obtaina second filtered data signal. This transmitting means includes amultiplexer for combining the first and second filtered data signals inorder to obtain the output signal based on the filtered data signals. Asystem response of the first IIR filter based on the first referencesignal corresponds to a system response of the second IIR filter basedon the second reference signal. The first and second data signals canindependently pass through a signal processing chain so that the filterscan be parallelized and can generate a high throughput. Furthermore,based on the same or comparable system responses of the filters inresponse to the reference signals, the filtered data signals can becombined in the multiplexer without training symbols, which may takeplace in order to put receiving filters into a steady state.

According to a further embodiment, a receiving means for receiving anoutput signal includes a demultiplexer for generating a first and asecond receiving signal from the received output signal. The receivingmeans further includes a first receiving structure comprising a firstequalizing filter for equalizing the first receiving signal and a firstseparator configured to separate a first reference signal from theequalized first receiving signal. The receiving means further includes asecond receiving structure comprising a second equalizing filter forequalizing the second receiving signal and a second separator configuredto separate a second reference signal from the equalized secondreceiving signal. Such a receiving means enables a parallelizedequalization of data streams so that, compared to known concepts, athroughput of the entirety of filters is increased.

Further embodiments relate to a transfer system comprising atransmitting means and a receiving means, a method for transmitting anoutput signal and for receiving an output signal as well as a computerprogram.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the present invention will be detailed subsequentlyreferring to the appended drawings, in which:

FIG. 1a shows a schematic block circuit diagram of a transmitting meansfor transmitting an output signal according to an embodiment;

FIG. 1b shows a schematic comparison of the extended data signals, thefiltered data signals and the output signal according to an embodiment;

FIG. 2 shows a schematic block circuit diagram of a transmitting means,in which, in contrast to filter structures of the transmitting means ofFIG. 1, filter structures comprise a calculating means according to anembodiment;

FIG. 3 shows a schematic block circuit diagram of a feedback filteraccording to an embodiment, which can be arranged, e.g., as an IIRfilter in the transmitting means of FIG. 1 or 2;

FIG. 4 shows a schematic block circuit diagram of a receiving means forreceiving an output signal transmitted by a transmitting means accordingto an embodiment;

FIG. 5 shows a schematic block circuit diagram of a receiving meanswhich comprises receiving structures that are modified compared toreceiving structures of the receiving means of FIG. 4 according to afurther embodiment;

FIG. 6 shows a schematic block circuit diagram of a transfer systemwhich includes the transmitting means of FIG. 2 and the receiving meansof FIG. 4 according to an embodiment;

FIG. 7 shows a schematic block diagram of an alternative transfersystem, in which the transmitting means includes modulators formodulating the data signals, and the receiving means includesdemodulators as well as a means for synchronization; and

FIG. 8 shows a transfer system according to the conventional technology.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Before embodiments of the present invention will be subsequentlyexplained in detail with reference to the drawings, it shall be pointedout that identical, functionally identical and operatively identicalelements, objects and/or structures are provided in the differentfigures with identical reference numerals so that description of theseelements in different embodiments is interchangeable and/or mutuallyapplicable.

FIG. 1a shows a schematic block circuit diagram of a transmitting means10, e.g., a channel encoder, for transmitting an output signal 12 via atransfer medium, such as a wire connection or a glass fiber connectionor a radio medium. The transmitting means 10 includes a plurality offilter structures 14 a-c configured to each receive a data signal 16 a-cand to provide a filtered data signal 18 a-c. The data signals 16 a-ccan be data streams of different data sources, which are to betransferred. The data sources can be any kind of data source, e.g., anetwork node, a server, a PC, a hard disk, a video camera, a sensor orother devices providing or generating data to be transferred. The datasignals can be received by a block encoder such as an FEC encoder whichis configured to extend source data of the data source block by blockwith redundancy (information on error detection and error correction).

The transmitting means 10 includes a multiplexer 22, indicated by “MUX”,configured to multiplex the filtered data signals 18 a-c, i.e., tosequentially or serially join them, in order to obtain the output signal12. The multiplexer 22 is further configured to output the output signal12. A size and an order or position of subsequences from the filtereddata signals 18 a-c or parts thereof in the output signal 12 can each beconfigurable and dynamically adjustable, e.g., based on mutuallydifferent bit rates of the data signals 16 a-c.

Each of the filter structures 14 a-c comprises a combiner 24 a, 24 b and24 c, respectively, configured to receive the data signal 16 a, 16 b and16 c, respectively, and to combine the respective data signal 16 a-cwith a reference signal 26 a, 26 b and 26 c, respectively, in order toobtain an extended data signal 27 a, 27 b and 27 c, respectively. Thereference signal can be a system-wide known data sequence (i.e., on thetransmitting means side and on the receiving means side) inserted at aspecific or predefined location of the respective data signal 16 a-c.For example, the reference signal 26 a-c is inserted between two datablocks of the respective data signal 16 a-c. A data length of thereference signals 26 a-c can be influenced by a function enabled in areceiving means of the output signal 12, as will be described below, andenables obtaining a comparable system response in different IIR filtersof the transmitting means.

For example, a reference signal 26 a-c can be combined with a datasignal 16 a-c such that the reference signal 26 a-c can be added in itsentirety or in part at one or several predetermined locations, e.g., ata beginning, at an end or at a defined position between the beginningand end of a data block of the respective data signal 16 a-c. When thereference signal 26 a-c is inserted at the beginning and/or at the endof a data block of the respective data signal 16 a-c (i.e., between twodata blocks), the respective IIR filter 28 a-c has not yet beenadequately influenced (trained) by the data of the reference signal 26a-c inserted at the beginning, when filtering the reference signalinserted at the beginning. For example, this can lead to data acting ina non-monolithic manner (i.e., containing a significant error signal inthe vicinity of the transition points between the filters 28 a-c) beforethe filtered data signal since the IIR filter 28 a-c is not in a steadystate. At the end of the data block, the filtered data signal 18 a-cacts in a monolithic manner based on the obtained steady state. Beforemultiplexing, the data acting in a non-monolithic manner can beconsidered invalid and/or be removed from the data stream. Removing theinvalid data can, e.g., occur in the respective IIR filter 26 a-c, inthe multiplexer 22 or by means of a calculating means which influencesthe filtered data signals 18 a-c.

The reference signals 26 a-c can be time-invariant or variable overdifferent time intervals. For example, based on a variable signal powerof the respective data signal 16 a-c, the reference signals can comprisea signal power which is also variable and adapted, i.e., approximatelyequal, to the signal power of the data signal 16 a-c. The referencesignals 26 a-c can be equal or comprise different information (bits orsymbols and/or equal or different data lengths).

Each of the filter structures 14 a-c includes an IIR filter 28 a, 28 band 28 c, respectively, configured to filter the respective extendeddata signal 27 a, 27 b or 27 c. The IIR filters 28 a-c are, e.g.,configured as predistortion filters configured to precompensate anexpected distortion of the output signal 12 in the transfer medium. TheIIR filters 28 a-c can comprise any IIR filter structure, among others,also a Tomlinson-Harashima filter structure (THP filter).

A statistical distortion of the filtered data signals 18 a, 18 b and 18c in the output signal 12 can be assumed to be equal since all thesignals are transferred via the same channel in short time intervals.Correspondingly, a predistortion characteristic of the IIR filters 28a-c can be equal or comparable. According to an embodiment, the IIRfilters 28 a-c are configured as THP filters.

The IIR filters 28 a-c are configured to filter the respective extendeddata signal 27 a-c and, therefore, at times in its entirety or in part,the respective reference signal 26 a-c and, at other times, the datasignal 16 a-c in its entirety or in part. A system response of the IIRfilter 28 a based on filtering the reference signal 26 a can be comparedat least at an end of the filtering process to a corresponding systemresponse of the respective IIR filter 36 b or 36 c based on filteringthe respective reference signals 26 b or 26 c.

When the IIR filter 28 a filters the reference signal 26 a, thereference signal 26 a generates a corresponding system response in thefilter 28 a. The same applies to the IIR filter 28 b with respect to thereference signal 26 b and to the IIR filter 28 c with respect to thereference signal 26 c. When the IIR filters 28 a-c comprise an equalfilter length and equal coefficients, the reference signals 26 a-c canbe equal, i.e., the reference signals 26 a-c can be the same signal. Asystem response of the IIR filters 28 a-c, i.e., a respective partialoutput signal, is therefore equal or comparable based on the referencesignal or signals 26 a-c. The system responses of the IIR filters 28 a-ccan be equal or approximately equal based on the reference signals 26a-c. When the IIR filters 28 a-c comprise an equal initial state, anequal filter structure and equal filter coefficients, and the samereference signals 26 a-c apply to the IIR filters 28 a-c, an equallysteady state of the IIR filters also arises. However, when the IIRfilters 28 a-c comprise different initial states, e.g., based onmutually different data signals 16 a-c, which have been filtered in apreceding manner, initial states also affect future system states basedon the feedback structure of the filters 28 a-c. The reference signals26 a-c comprise a length which reduces such effects to such an extentthat these effects are negligible and the system responses arecomparable.

Therefore, after multiplexing, the output signal 12 acts as if it werefiltered, i.e., calculated, by only one filter. This enables anefficient equalization and decoding on the receiving means side.

This can be achieved in that the length of the reference signal 26 a-cis at least twice as long (factor 2), at least three times as long(factor 3), at least five times as long (factor 5) or more than a filterlength of the IIR filters 28 a-c.

At portions of the filtered data signals 18 a-c comprising a systemresponse comparable to each other, the individual data streams can bejoined by means of the multiplexer 22 and can thereby maintain astructure corresponding to a structure which would have been obtained byfiltering a data stream through a filter so that a reduced or nosettling time for receiving filters is needed on the receiving meansside.

The transmitting means 10 can comprise any number of filtered structures14 a-c, for example 2, 3 or more.

FIG. 1b shows a schematic comparison of the extended data signals 27 a,27 b and 27 c. The extended data signals 27 a-c each comprise a datablock of the data signals 16 a, 16 b and 16 c (Data 1, Data 2, Data 3),respectively, which are combined with the reference signals 26 a-c suchthat the reference signal 26 a-1, 26 b-1 and 26 c-1, respectively, isadded in front of the data block, and the reference signal 26 a-2, 26b-2 and 26 c-2, respectively, is added after the data block. As anexample, the reference signals comprise the same data lengths but canalso be different from one another, as explained above. Alternatively oradditionally, data lengths of the data signals 16 a-c can also be equalor different from one another. Based on the extended data signals 27a-c, filtered data signals 18′a-c are obtained by filtering of thefilters 28 a-c. The filtered data signals 18′a-c differ from thefiltered data signals 18 a-c of FIG. 1a in that the filtered datasignals 18′a-c (still) comprise the invalid preambles 26 a-1′, 26 b-1′and 26 c-1′.

The filtered data signals 18′a-c comprise an equal data structure(reference signal—data signal—reference signal) as the extended datasignals 27 a-c, the reference signals and the data signals beingfiltered, as indicated by the addition “fil.” which stands for“filtered”. The filtered data signal comprises the filtered referencesignal 26 a-1′ in front of the filtered signal 16 a′ and the filteredreference signal 26 a-2′ after the same. The filtered data signals 18′band 18′c comprise an equal structure. The filtered data signals 18′a-care combined by means of the multiplexer 22 to the output signal 12.

The obtained output signal 12 comprises a (monolithic) structure, i.e.,it acts as if filtered by a single IIR filter. Here, the output signal12 obtained at a point in time depends on preceding filter operations ofthe filters filtering the respective data section. However, therespective filtered reference signals 26 a-1′, 26 b-1′ and 26 c-1′placed in front are unaffected by the respective data sequences of theother extended or filtered data signals, which precede in the outputsignal 12. That means that the filtered reference signal 26 a-1′ can beunequal with respect to the filtered reference signal 26 b-1′ and/or 26c-1′. The filtered signals 16 a′-c′ are filtered by means of thereference signals 26 a-1, 26 b-1 and 26 c-1 of filters in a steady stateand are sufficiently influenced by these preceding signals. Likewise,the reference signals 26 a-2′, 26 b-2′ and 26 c-2′ appended areadequately influenced by the respective data signals 16 a-c. Thisensures that reference signal 26 a-c (preamble) inserted in front of(and after) each data block 16 a-c is transferred at the end of therespective filtered data block 16 a′-c′ since the preamble is consideredto be invalid or is removed at the beginning of the data block and iscorrectly filtered and transferred at the end of the data block.

The monolithic structure of the output signal 12 can be obtained byconfiguring the multiplexer 22, the respective IIR filter 28 a-c or ameans (such as a signal former) connected between the filters 28 a-c andthe multiplexer 22 to remove the respective filter responses 26 a-1′, 26b-1′ or 26 c-1′, which are invalid or not sufficiently influenced, andto output the output signal 12 based on the sequentially connectedfiltered signals 16 a′-c′ and 26 a-2′, 26 b-2′ and 26 c-2′,respectively. This means that, as an alternative to the situation shownin FIG. 1b , the filtered data signals can also not comprise therespective invalid preamble 26 a-1′, 26 b-1′ and 26 c-2′, e.g., when theIIR filter is configured to remove the data, or when the IIR filterincludes a signal former configured for this purpose, e.g., as describedin connection with FIG. 3. In simplified terms, according to theembodiment, the preamble is calculated (filtered) twice, but transferredonly once. For this purpose, a data block of data signals 16 a-c isextended by two reference signals, wherein one (the one placed in frontof the data signal 16 a-c) is used to train the filter, however, theobtained filter response is rejected in order to obtain a low overhead(proportion of the status information or link management information).The respective reference signal 26 a-2, 26 b-2 and 26 c-2 placed at theend of the data signal 16 a-c is transferred in its respective filteredform 26 a-1′, 26 b-1′ and 26 c-1′. The respective filter responses(filtered reference signals) 26 a-1′, 26 b-1′ and 26 c-1′ can be equalor comparable (i.e., negligible differences, possibly below the systemnoise).

One of the advantageous features of the present invention is that thecombinations (or tuples) (16 a′, 26 a-2′), (16 b′, 26 b-2′) and (16 c′,26 c-2′) can be transmitted in any given order and that the resultingwaveform appears in a monolithic manner, i.e., does not comprise errorsat or in the vicinity of the transitions between the tuples.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic block circuit diagram of a transmitting means20, in which filter structures 14′a-c, in contrast to the filterstructures 14 a-c of FIG. 1, include a calculating means 32 a, 32 b and32 c, respectively, configured to receive a source signal 34 a, 34 b or34 c from a data source and to calculate redundancy information withrespect to the respective source signal 34 a-c. For example, thecalculating means 32 a-c can be a means for calculating redundancysymbols or redundancy bits or another precoding, which enables an errorcorrection on the receiving means side. For example, the calculatingmeans 32 a-c can be configured to execute an algorithm for a forwarderror correction (FEC). Correspondingly calculated symbols or bits canbe combined with the source signal 34 a, 34 b or 34 c by the calculatingmeans 32 a-c in order to obtain the respective data signals 16 a, 16 bor 16 c. The calculating means 32 a-c can be embodied, e.g., as aprocessor, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a digital circuit onan integrated circuitry or the like and can be configured tocontinuously or discontinuously receive the source signals 34 a, 34 b or34 c. The calculating means 32 a-c can already receive the respectivesource signal 34 a-c as a block to be processed and can continuously ordiscontinuously receive data until a corresponding block size isreached, and can provide the data signals 16 a, 16 b or 16 c,respectively, based on a process block.

For example, combining can occur by adding or inserting the redundancyinformation (symbols or bits) to or into the resource signal 34 a-c. Acombination of the source signals 34 a-c by redundancy informationenables increased transfer reliability in a transfer system since biterrors can be corrected.

The transmitting means 20 further includes a calculating means 35, e.g.a processor or the like, configured to adjust the IIR filters 28 a-c,i.e., to calculate and/or to adapt filter coefficients of the IIRfilters 28 a-c. Furthermore, the calculating means 35 can be configuredto influence a signal to be applied to the respective filter 28 a-c,i.e., to add and/or to remove or to suppress signal portions. Forexample, the calculating means 35 can be configured to remove data ofthe filtered data signals 18 a-c, which is considered invalid. Thecalculating means 35 can be further configured to calculate a system orimpulse response of the IIR filters 28 a-c, e.g., upon applying thereference signal 26 a-c at the IIR filters 28 a-c. Alternatively, thesystem or impulse answer can be calculated on the receiving means side,e.g., by calculating a combined filter-impulse response, e.g., after anerror correction has been carried out, and based on filtering theobtained error corrected signal. The calculating means 35 can beconfigured to store correspondingly obtained and sent filtercoefficients and to possibly update the same in a time-varying manner,and to adjust the IIR filters 28 a-c based on the coefficients. Digitalfilters with a known structure are sufficiently defined by theircoefficients. If the coefficients are known, the impulse response canalso be considered as known.

The reference signals 26 a-c can be adapted to the respective sourcesignal 34 a-c or data signal 16 a-c for further enhancement of thetransfer reliability. Thus, the reference signals 26 a-c can comprise adegree of modulation which is lower than a degree of modulation of thesource signals 34 a-c or data signals 16 a-c. For example, the sourcesignal 34 a and/or the data signal 16 a can be modulated by means of apulse-amplitude modulation (PAM) or by means of a pulse-code modulation(PCM) and comprise a first number of possible amplitude levels such as3, 4, 5 or more. The reference signal 26 a-c can also comprise a PAM orPCM modulation and a second number of possible amplitude levels such as2, 3, 4 or more, wherein the second number of possible amplitude levelsis lower than the first number of amplitude levels. When compared to thedata signal 16 a or the source signal 34 a, the lower degree ofmodulation of the reference signal 26 a enables an increase of theinterference reliability with regard to transfer errors for the signalportions of the reference signals 26 a-c in the output signal 12. Asignal power of the preamble, i.e., of the reference signal, can be thesame as a (mean) signal power of the respective data signal 16 a, 16 bor 16 c in a tolerance range of at most plus/minus 20%, alternatively atmost plus/minus 10% or alternatively at most plus/minus 5%. Furthermore,the reference signals 26 a-c can be configured without a mean value inorder to keep the output signal 12 also without a mean value when thedata signal 16 is without a mean value. Alternatively, the referencesignal 26 a-c can comprise a mean value in order to compensate a meanvalue of the data signal 16 a-c or to obtain the filtered data signal 18a-c with a reduced amount of a mean value thereof. Alternatively, thereference signal 18 a-c can or cannot comprise a mean value regardlessof the data signal 16 a-c comprising a mean value or not. Aconfiguration of the reference signals 26 a-c without a mean valueenables an improved processability of the resulting output signal 12 inanalog front ends, i.e., elements such as digital-to-analog converters(DAC) and/or analog-to-digital converters (ADC). This can be animportant design criterion.

The reference signals 26 a-c can also be referred to as preamble, inparticular, when the same are placed in front of a block of the datasignal 16 a, 16 b and 16 c, respectively, or are appended to the same.Appended reference signals 16 a-c act on a subsequent block of the datasignal 16 a-c equally or comparably to a signal placed in front of. Thepreamble can be used as a limiting marker of the respective data blocks(frames) in the continuous data stream (output signal 12). This enablesthe marker to be used in the receiving means for synchronizing theseframes, e.g. to parallelized data processing chains. The system-wideknown preamble enables independent processing of the input data, whichsubsequently seamlessly fit to each other in the serial transfer, i.e.,appearing as if processed in a single serial chain. A communication linkbetween the transmitting means and receiving means can thereby transfera high payload data load with only a minimal load of “management data”which can be used very efficiently, for example for synchronizationand/or training of the parallelizations on the transmitting means andreceiving means sides.

A payload data load can be increased or maximized when the data of thedifferent data sources is transmitted in multiples of FEC block sizes,that is, the payload data load of an FEC block is fully utilized. Due tothe independence of the parallel data processing of the filterstructures 14 a-c or 14′a-c, an independent data source may be handled.The data sources can be independent of time. The incoming data stream ofa data source (source signal 34 c-c) can be configured in a continuousmanner and alternatively in a discontinuous manner. The composition of acontinuous stream can occur after the signal processing in theserializing, i.e., by means of the multiplexer 22. In contrast to theconventional technology, in which the data for serial transfer arereorganized (multiplexed) and then the signal processing is carried out,due to the preceding embodiments, the signal processing for the transfercan occur on a subset of the data stream and parallel to otherindependently operating signal processing chains and the reorganizing ofthe data for the serial link can take place after processing in thefilter structures 14 a-c or 14′a-c. Despite this shift of the“multiplexing operation” to after the signal processing, thetransmission sequence (output signal 12) appears on the channel as asingle continuously processed signal. Thus, embodiments enable utilizinga maximum proportion of payload data.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic block circuit diagram of a feedback filter 30which can be arranged, for example, as an IIR filter 28 a, 28 b or 28 cin the transmitting means 10 or 20. A sequential series of the signalportions or the extended data signal 27 and the filtered data signal 18is represented by the time axis t. The extended data signal 27 includesthe reference signals 26-1 and 26-2 placed in front of or placed afterthe data signal 16, according to the statements with respect to FIG. 1b. A further block of the data signal 16 (with the allocated referencesignal) can follow the reference signal 26-2 (preamble). The feedbackfilter 30 includes a plurality, i.e., two, three or more, of IIR filters36 a-c respectively configured to filter one signal portion of theextended data signal 27, which means that the extended data signal 27 isfiltered by a parallelized structure of IIR filters 36 a-c.

The IIR filters 36 a-c are configured to each filter a signal section 38a, 38 b and 38 c, respectively, of the extended data signal 27 and canbe embodied as a THP filter. The signal portions 38 a and 38 b overlapin an overlapping portion 42, which means that the overlapping portion42 of the extended data signal 27 is filtered both by the IIR filter 36a at the end of the signal portion 38 a as well as by the IIR filter 36b at the beginning of the signal portion 38 b. An overlapping portion 42is arranged between two respective subsequent signal portions 38 a-c.

Since the system response of the respective IIR filter 36 a-c isdependent on a preceding signal wave form of a certain time durationuntil the feedback of the preceding signal portions is attenuated to anegligible portion, filtered signal portions 44 a, 44 b or 44 c,respectively, of the IIR filters 36 a-c are also dependent on precedingsignal components. This can result in the filtered signal portions 44a-c comprising an initial data sequence 46 a, 46 b and 46 c,respectively, which was filtered by a filter in a non-steady state (or astate which is influenced by a not currently filtered block of therespective extended data signal 27). Non-steady state refers to atheoretical state that would be obtained if the extended data signal 27were continuously filtered by a single IIR filter. Based on theparallelization of the single IIR filter into several subfilters 36 a-c,the filters 36 a-c are not influenced by signal wave forms of theextended data signal 27, which are arranged temporally in front of therespective signal portion 38 a, 38 b or 38 c, and in this regardtherefore in a non-steady state at the beginning of the signal portions38 a-c and the signal portion 44 a-c-in portions 46 a-c. In thesenon-steady states, the system response of the filter is different to asignificant extent from a system response of a single filter filteringthe entire data block so that this data such as the filtered referencesignal 26-1′ can be considered “invalid”. The signal former 52 isconfigured to remove data 46 a-c considered invalid and, thus, also thefilter response in response to the preamble 26-1 so that the filtereddata signal 18 does not include this filter response in the state shown.

In simplified terms, data of the overlapping portion 42 is correctlyfiltered by the IIR filter 36 a and incorrectly filtered by the IIRfilter 36 b and is used for the IIR filter 36 b as a training sequencein order to obtain the steady state. A system response of the filters 36a-c in the respective training sequence can be considered invalid dataand is removed by the signal former 52.

The IIR filters 36 a-c are configured such that the overlapping portions42 comprise a length at least corresponding to a length which therespective IIR filter 36 a, 36 b or 36 c may use in order to reach thesteady state. This means that, after the overlapping portion 42, therespective IIR filter 36 a-c is influenced by preceding signal portionsof the extended data signal 27 such that the filtered signal portion 44a-c is the same in portions 48 a-c in a tolerance range as if theextended data signal 27 were filtered by a single IIR filter. Theportions 48 a-c form the filtered data signal 18 in portions.

The feedback filter structure 30 includes a signal former 52 configuredto combine the filtered signal portions 44 a-c, e.g., in a sequentialsuccessive manner, in order to obtain the filtered data signal 18. Thesignal former 52 is configured to remove data sequences consideredinvalid, i.e., the overlapping sequences 46 a-c allocated to theoverlapping portions 42, and to join the signal portions 48 a-c. Thisenables that the filtered data signal 18 solely comprises such signalsor signal sequences that were obtained by filters in a steady state.

When the preamble does not change over several blocks of the extendeddata signal 27, the preamble 26-2 can be transferred in the filteredblock of the output signal 18. Alternatively or additionally, the signalformer 52 can be configured to place a system response of thesteady-state IIR filter 36 a based on the preamble 26-1 in front of thefiltered output signal 18 or to insert the same at a differentpredefined location, e.g., by a shifting operation or the like. Sincethe preamble 26-1 or 26-2 is known system-wide and the filter structureas well as the coefficients of the IIR filter 36 a are also known, asystem response of the IIR filter 36 a in response to the preamble 26-1can be calculated.

Alternatively or additionally, the signal former 52 or a furthercalculating means such as the calculating means 35 can be configured toadjust the IIR filter 36 a to a (steady) state which is obtained whenthe IIR filter 36 a filters the preamble 26-1. The IIR filter 36 a canbe configured to filter the signal portion 38 a to an extent which doesnot comprise the preamble 26-1 (shortened signal portion 38 a). Insimplified terms, the system response of the filter 36 a can besynthesized in response to the preamble 26-1 since all the parameters(signal and filter structure) are known. This enables the filter 36 a tonot have to filter (calculate) the preamble 26-1 so that thecorresponding energy may be saved and a power dissipation due to thefiltering may be avoided.

A length of the overlapping portions 42 refers to a number of symbols ofthe extended data signal 27, a number of bits thereof and/or a filterlength (number of filter taps and/or feedback paths) of the filter. Thelength of the overlapping portions 42 can be chosen such that itcomprises a (training) length which is longer than a memory depth or acoefficient number of the IIR filters 36 a-c. An increase of theoverlapping portion 42 leads to a decrease of the IIR errors obtained bythe parallelization. With a sufficiently large overlap, i.e., length ofthe training sequence and the overlapping portion 42, such errors can bereduced to acceptable and negligible values, e.g., to values that arebelow the noise of the transfer or the quantization in the system.

On the other hand, an increase in the length of the overlapping portion42 leads to less usable (valid) output data for each filter 36 a-c perunit of time and, thereby, forces more parallel filters 36 a-c in orderto keep the time for calculating a block of the filtered data signal 18the same. Thus, a balance between reducing the errors of theparallelization and the complexity of the implementation can beprovided.

When the IIR filters 28 a-c are embodied as THP filters in thetransmitting means 10 and/or 20, the IIR filters 36 a-c can also beembodied as THP filters in their entirety or in part, while the IIRfilters 36 a-c may be configured equal with regard to the filterstructure.

Compared to the parallelization of the signal processing chains in thetransmitting means 10 and 20, as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the IIRfilter 30 comprises a parallelized structure of the filter itself. Theparallelization in the transmitting means 10 and 20 can be referred toas external parallelization or parallelization level I. On the otherhand, the parallelization in the individual IIR filters can be referredto as internal parallelization or parallelization level II. Thus, anobtained data length of the filtered data signal 18 can be unchangedwith respect to the extended data signal 27. The reference signal 26-1(preamble) can comprise a length corresponding to a length of theoverlapping portion 42.

The internal parallelization enables a fast and efficient filtering ofthe respective extended data signals. When having the same filterquality, the individual (sub-) filters 36 a-c can comprise a lowercomplexity (less filter coefficients or calculating operations) comparedto a non-parallelized pipelining filter structure.

Although the filter structure 30 has been described such that theextended data signal 27 is filtered, other signals can be applied to thefilter structure 30, i.e., be filtered, e.g., signals received from areceiving means, as discussed below.

The concept of parallelization described with reference to the filterstructure 30 is also applicable to FIR filters (feedforward filters).These can be brought into a steady state (trained) by means of theoverlapping portions 42 and/or the reference signal 26-1 and/or 26-2 inorder to subsequently combine the obtained filtered subsignals and toobtain a monolithic signal.

In other words, the systematically present error in the IIR (due to thememory of the feedback) is reduced to values accepted in the transfersystem by a longer overlapping/training sequence 42, e.g., longer thanthe memory depth/coefficient number of the THP. Wth the correct choiceof training length, the error values are below the noise by the transferor the quantization in the system and, thus, practically do not restrictthe accuracy of the filter compared to a non-parallelized but quantizedfilter. By means of this adapted method, which can also be referred toas Memory-Train-Save, the impulse response of the parallelized IIR 30appears again as a jointly calculated signal. Instead of supplying thefirst filter element with zeros beforehand, as with the Overlap-Savemethod known for FIR filters, in Memory-Train-Save, the trainingsequence is a system-wide known preamble at the beginning and the end,i.e., a first and a last filter in the internal parallelization levelII. As a result, the data segments of the external parallelization levelI can also be joined and the entire system appears as a jointlycalculated wave form. Calculating the preamble filtering is practicallynot required for the first filter element (IIR-filter 36 a). Resettingthe memory in the IIR/THP filter to the values obtained by calculatingthe preamble can occur. This results in less power dissipation in thefilter.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic block circuit diagram of a receiving means 40for receiving an output signal 54 transmitted by a transmitting means.For example, the output signal 54 can be the output signal 12 of thetransmitting means 10 or 20, which is received via a transfer mediumsuch as a line or a radio medium. Alternatively, the output signal 54can also be a different output signal such as from a transmitting meansaccording to the conventional technology since the output signal 12appears as if calculated by a single signal processing chain(conventional technology), as discussed above. Although the outputsignal 12 comprises the added reference signals, these can also beconsidered as a periodically repeating header of a data block and/or beextracted or ignored.

The receiving means 40 includes a demultiplexer 56 and two or morereceiving structures 58 a-c. For example, three receiving structures 58a-c are illustrated in FIG. 4, while it is indicated by the dots betweenthe receiving structure 58 b and 58 c that the receiving means 40 canalso comprise several receiving structures. Alternatively, the receivingmeans 40 can also merely comprise two receiving structures.

The demultiplexer 56 is configured to generate a receiving signal 62 a,62 b and 62 c, respectively, for each receiving structure 58 a-c or fordata sinks to which the data is forwarded. For example, the receivingstructures 58 a-c are allocated to a data sink, i.e., a receiving meansor a processor of the data, so that the demultiplexer 56 is, forexample, configured to divide the output signal 54 into the receivingsignals 62 a-c allocated to the respective data sinks.

The parallelized arrangement of the receiving structures 58 a-c enablesa parallelized decoding and/or equalization of the respective receivingsignals 62 a-c. This enables a high data throughput and a low complexityof the employed filters. In particular, the receiving signals 62 a-c canbe equalized and/or decoded independently and/or differently from eachother.

The receiving structures 58 a-c each include an equalization filter 64a, 64 b and 64 c, respectively, for equalizing the receiving signal 62a, 62 b and 62 c, respectively. The equalization filters 64 a, 64 band/or 64 c can be embodied, e.g., as a forwardly directed equalization(Feed Forward Equalizer—FFE).

An equalized receiving signal 66 a, 66 b and 66 c obtained in such a wayis received by a separator 68 a, 68 b and 68 c, respectively. Theseparator 68 a, 68 b and 68 c is configured to possibly separate, i.e.,to detect and to evaluate, a reference signal 72 a, 72 b and 72 c,respectively, or to remove the reference signal 72 a-c from theequalized receiving signal 66 a-c. For example, the reference signal 72a-c can be the reference signal 26 a-c. For example, the separator 68a-c can be configured to determine a beginning or start of a data blockin the equalized receiving signal 66 a-c. For example, a content of therespective reference signal 72 a-c is known to the separator 68 a-c sothat, based on a comparing operation such as a cross-correlation of theequalized receiving signal 66 a-c with the reference signal, the lattercan be detected. One or several separators 68 a-c can be coupled to thedemultiplexer 56 so that the same receives information from the one orthe several separators 68 a-c in regard to the location in the outputsignal 12 at which the reference signal is received or contained. Themultiplexer 56 can be configured to influence, based on thisinformation, a division of the output signal 12 into the receivingsignals 66 a-c, i.e., to (correctly) synchronize the same.

According to embodiments, information with regard to a data block sizeof the equalized receiving signals 66 a-c in the respective separator 72a-c is known so that the same can determine, based on a time measurementbetween two reference signals in the equalized receiving signal 66 a-c,an estimation with respect to a frequency offset. For example, this canbe done by means of a control which checks the distances (for example insymbol clocks) of the found reference signals (preambles). The separator68 a-c can be further configured to carry out a frequencysynchronization and phase synchronization of the symbol clock in thereceiving means onto the output signal 54 and/or the receiving signals66 a-c. For this purpose, the separator 68 a-c can comprisecorresponding filters for the synchronization error detection (timingerror detector). Alternatively or additionally, the separator 68 a-c ofa receiving structure 58 a-c can be configured to remove the respectivereference signal 72 a-c from the equalized receiving signal 66 a, 66 band 66 c, respectively, and/or to provide the reference signal 72 a-c toa further calculating means for determining the preceding information.

Alternatively, the coarse and fine frequency synchronization and phasesynchronization can be included in one separator only, i.e., be carriedout, which handles this task globally. According to a furtherembodiment, this function is implemented in an additional parallel pathwith an equalization filter and a separator, which only evaluates asubset of the data so as to consume a small amount of power.

In simplified terms, the separator 68 a-c or a calculating means can beconfigured to determine a temporal spacing of the reference informationin the respective receiving signal and to determine phase correctioninformation based on a temporal distance or to provide the referenceinformation 72 a-c to a calculating means, which carries out thecorresponding determination of the temporal distance as well as of thephase correction information.

The separators 68 a, 68 b and 68 c are configured to provide an outputsignal 74 a, 74 b and 74 c, respectively, corresponding to the equalizedreceiving signal 66 a, 66 b and 66 c, respectively, or a version thereofwhich is separated from the reference signal 72 a, 72 b and 72 c,respectively, to a calculating means 76 a, 76 b and 76 c, respectively,of the receiving structures 58 a, 58 b and 58 c, respectively, Thecalculating means 76 a-c are configured to carry out an error correctionbased on redundancy information contained in the signals 74 a-c, e.g.,based on an FEC in the transmitting means 10 or 20, and to provide adata signal 78 a-c which can be forwarded to one or several data sinks.

Thus, the receiving means 40 enables a parallelization of the receivingstructure of a transfer system.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic block circuit diagram of a receiving means 50according to a further embodiment. Compared to the receiving means 40,the receiving means 50 comprises, in modified receiving structures58′a-c, an equalization filter 82 a, 82 b and 82 c, respectively, whichis embodied as a decision feedback equalizer (DFE) filter and arrangedbetween the equalization filters 64 a, 64 b and 64 c, respectively,which are embodied as FIR filters, and the separators 68 a, 68 b and 68c, respectively. The DFE filters 82 a-c comprise an IIR structure. TheDFE filters 82 a-c are embodied as parallelized IIR filters, asdescribed for the IIR filter 30 in FIG. 3, i.e., the DFE filters 82 a-ccomprise a plurality of parallelized (sub) IIR filters 36 a-c. The DFEfilters 82 a-c are configured to filter the equalized signal 66 a, 66 bor 66 c and to output a correspondingly filtered equalized signal 84 a,84 b and 84 c, respectively, and to provide the same to the separator 68a, 68 b and 68 c, respectively. The receiving structures 58′a-c areconfigured to output a modified data signal 78′a-c compared to the datasignals 78 a-c, which is influenced by the additional equalization.

The additional arrangement of the DFE filters 82 a-c enables an adaptionto time-varying characteristics of a transfer channel via which theoutput signal 54 is received. A parallelization by the parallelizationlevel II of these IIR filters allows for a high number of parallelizedfilter operations.

FIG. 6 shows a schematic block circuit diagram of a transfer system 60including the transmitting means 20 and the receiving means 40.Alternatively, the transfer system 60 can also include the transmittingmeans 10 and/or the receiving means 50. The transfer system 60 furtherincludes a digital-to-analog converter (D/A) 86 configured to convertthe output signal 12 to an analog signal so that the output signal canbe transmitted with a corresponding signal power. The transfer system 60includes a transfer channel 88 and an analog-to-digital converter (A/D)92 configured to receive the output signal 12 transferred via thetransfer channel 88 and to digitalize the same for further processing.

The transmitting means 20 includes a first number n of data sources. Thereceiving means 40 includes a second number m of data sinks. The firstnumber n and the second number m each comprise a value of ≧2 and cancomprise a same value. This means that, for example, a data source 94a-c provides or generates a source signal 34 a, 34 b and 34 c,respectively, which is allocated to a data sink 96 a-c, which can alsobe described as a 1:1 connection. Alternatively, a data source signal 34a, 34 b and/or 34 c can be allocated to at least two data sinks 96 a, 96b and 96 c, which allows for a number of n<m and can be referred to as a1:x connection. Alternatively or additionally, several data sources 94a-c can each provide a data stream 34 a-c respectively allocated to adata sink 96 a-c and enabling a number of n>m, which can also bedescribed as x:1 connection. Furthermore, mixed forms of data transferare possible, such as n:m connections with n being unequal m, such as3:2 or 2:3. For example, this can arise due to a configuration of thedata sources or data sinks, but also simply due to a differentparallelization for the same calculating throughput. In other words, inthe transfer system 60, the channel encoding and predistortion do notoccur in the multiplexed serial data stream but a framing of the data isalready performed before the multiplexer in order to correctly allocatethe data in the receiving means for the blockwise decoding. A nestedparallelization is employed in the data processing. There is an externalparallelization level I at the FEC blocks and an internalparallelization level II in each of the FEC blocks.

FIG. 7 shows a schematic block circuit diagram of a transfer system 70including, compared to the transmitting means 20, a modifiedtransmitting means 20′ and, compared to the receiving means 40, amodified receiving means 40′. The transmitting means 20′ includes theD/A converter 86. Compared to the transmitting means 20, thetransmitting means 20′ is further modified in such a way that the filterstructures 14″a-c each include a signal memory 98 a-c configured tostore or to generate the respective reference signal 26 a-c and toprovide the reference signal 26 a-c to the respective combiner 24 a-c.The combiners 24 a-c can be configured to scale the reference signal 26a-c before inserting the same into the extended data signal. The signalmemory 98 a-c can be any volatile or non-volatile memory such as a RAM,ROM, (E)EPROM, FLASH or the like. Alternatively, instead of the signalmemory 98 a-c, a signal generator may be arranged to generate thereference signal 26 a-c.

The filter structures 14″a-c further each include a modulator 102 a-carranged between the respective redundancy block 32 a-c and therespective combiner 24 a-c and configured to modulate the data signal 16a-c with a modulation degree, for example, with modulation of afrequency, a phase and/or an amplitude. For example, one or severalmodulators 102 a-c can be configured to modulate the respective datasignal 16 a-c with a PAM or PCM having a modulation degree of 2, 3, 4,5, 6, 7, 8 or more levels. The respective reference signal 16 a-c can beobtained from the respective signal memory 98 a-c with a modulationdegree which is lower than the modulation degree of the modulator 102a-c in order to obtain an increased interference reliability of theoutput signal 12 with respect to the reference signals 26 a-c and withrespect to the data signals 16 a-c.

The receiving means 40′ includes the A/D converter 92. Receivingstructures 58″a-c of the receiving means 40′ which are modified comparedto the receiving structures 58 and 58′ comprise a demodulator 104 a, 104b and 104 c, respectively, configured to demodulate the equalized signal66 a-c based on the degree or method of modulation of the modulators 102a-c. The demodulators 104 a-c can be integrated into the separators 68a-c, can include them or replace.

The receiving structure 40′ further includes a cross-correlator 106configured to determine the reference signal by means of across-correlation in a digitalized output signal obtained by the A/Dconverter 92, i.e., a data sequence of the output signal comprising thereference signal in a filtered form. A result of the cross-correlationcan, for example, be provided in a digital signal or a voltage signal ora current signal, wherein the amplitude of the same indicates ameasurement of the correlation (correspondence) of the received and thedeposited (expected) reference signal. The cross-correlator 106 isconfigured to supply information with respect to the position of thereference signal in the output signal 12 to the demultiplexer 56 sothat, by means of the demultiplexer 56, a correct division of the outputsignal 12 into the receiving signals 62 a-c or of the reference signaland the FEC blocks to the filterbanks (receiving structures 58″a-c) canbe carried out and/or an erroneous division can be corrected. Thisdivision is called block synchronization or frame synchronization. Inthis case, the cross-correlator 106 can include a copy of a filter 64and/or a separate filter for extracting the time error.

The receiving structure 40′ further includes a timing error detector 108(TED) configured to compare the (known or deposited) reference signaland the received reference signal with each other, and to determine atime offset (timing error) of the receiving reference signal withrespect to the deposited reference signal. For example, the timing errordetector 108 can be embodied as a equalization-based TED and/orimplement a Müller-Müller algorithm, and is configured to outputinformation with respect to the timing offset, e.g., in a digital or ananalog signal. The timing error detector 108 can include a copy of afilter 64 and/or a separate filter for extracting the timing error.

The receiving structure 40′ further includes a means 112 for determiningand/or monitoring the frequency and/or phase of the output signal 12.The means 112 is configured to determine, based on the informationobtained by the timing error detector 108 and the cross correlator 106,correction values with respect to a sampling frequency and/or a samplingphase for the A/D converter 92, and to adjust the A/D converter 92 bymeans of the correction values in order to obtain and/or increase asynchronization of the A/D converter 92 with respect to the outputsignal 12.

The information of the cross correlator 106 serve for a coarseradjustment of the correction of frequency and/or phase (synchronizationof the A/D converter 92) of the receiving means 40′ to the transmittingmeans 20′ or the transfer system 70, and the values of the timing errordetector 108 serve for a finer adjustment of the same.

The FFE blocks (equalization) 64 a-c include a modulo operation toenable a correct demodulation of the data signals 16 a-c filtered bymeans of the modulo operation in the THP filters 28 a-c. In simplifiedterms, the received data enter the FIR/FFE, wherein a segment with afiltered reference signal is first. When a THP is active at thetransmitting means, which, being a THP, possibly carries out a modulooperation, a modulo operation is calculated advantageously or possiblycompulsory before a demodulation and after the FFE at the receivingmeans. In a receiving means synchronization, the cross correlator 106(Xcorr) first searches for the preamble (reference sequence). This doesnot have to occur in the entire data stream but can also be carried outin “snapshots” recorded in distances. This enables reduced speedrequirements of the processing of the cross correlator. For example, thecross correlator 106 provides information such as the determinedposition of the preamble and the height of the correlation peaks overtime (i.e., the history of these values for, e.g., 20-100 snapshots).The position of the current preamble serves the demultiplexer 56 inorder to correctly divide the data blocks (preamble+FEC block) to thefilterbanks.

The receiving means clock may be equal to the baud rate of thetransmitting means 20′, i.e., there is one sampling value per symbol. Anoversampling and its control by means of the frequency phase monitoringunit 112, e.g., two sampling values per symbol, and a digitalsynchronization through an interpolation filter is possible in order toobtain an increased accuracy, but is (possibly extremely) resourceconsuming at high targeted clock rates.

Alternatively, the operations of the cross correlator 106, the timingerror detector 108 and/or the frequency phase monitoring unit 112 fordetermining and/or monitoring of the frequency and/or phase of theoutput signal 12 can entirely or partly be carried out by separator 68b.

For the internal parallelization stage II, compensation filters(equalization filters) and a modulator 102 a-c, or a combiner 24 a-c anda demodulator 104 a-c, or a separator 68 a-c are parallelized. Thepreamble (reference signal) also passes through the signal processing atthe transmitting means and is transferred for the training of theparallelized compensation filters in the receiving part. In the simplestcase, the multiplexer and demultiplexer can operate in a method similarto the “Round Robin”, i.e., a frame is transmitted subsequently fromeach data source and the frames are successively divided to the datasinks in the receiving means. Alternatively, a short info field may beadded to the preamble, for example, containing an ID of the data source,an ID of the data sink, a continuous frame number and/or possibly a timestamp. In this way, frames from any data source can be transmitted atthe transmitting means as needed, and be easily allocated to the correctdata sinks in the receiving means.

The equalization structure of the THP filter on the transmitting meansside and FFE on the receiving means side can be efficiently implementedfor very high data throughputs.

The embodiments described above enable an application in apparatuses fora baseband transfer, in high speed data transfers, in particular usingdigital filtering as well as a parallelized digital data processing.Signals of independent data sources may be calculated in parallel andappear in an output signal as a monolithically processed waveform,enabling easy decoding.

The preamble, i.e., the reference signal, is, for example, appended tothe respective FEC block and/or placed in front of the same in thetransmitting means after the FEC encoder (redundancy block 32 a-c). Asdescribed in FIG. 3, a preamble placed in front of can also be output atan end of the filtered signal from a filter.

The preamble can be used on the transmitting means side in order toserve as a training sequence for the THP (subfilter) to enable aparallelization (parallelization level I). The preamble can furtherserve as a training sequence for the FIR filters (equalization 64 a-c)in order to enable a parallelization. The preamble is further used to bedetermined as a marker for a block start or a block end for the FEC(error correction 76 a-c). The block start can be found through acorrelation with the known preamble. Checking the timing distances(possibly in symbol clocks) of the found preambles can be employed for acoarse frequency offset estimation. Further, the preamble can be usedfor a fine synchronization of frequency and phase. In this case, timingerror detectors can be used as special filters for a more precisecontrol.

The uses mentioned are not exhaustive. Different uses can lead to adifferent requirement with respect to the length of the preamble. Whilea comparatively long preamble may be used for determining the blocksstart or of a block end and/or a coarse frequency synchronization inorder to enable a robust calculation by means of the cross correlation,the length of the preamble may increasingly decrease if a systemimplementation is merely based on a parallelization of the THP blocks(parallelization level II), a fine synchronization of phase and/orfrequency or a parallelization of the FFE blocks (64 a-c). Theimplementation can change with transfer channels 88 different from eachother. For example, to detect a start block, a preamble can have alength of, e.g., at least 30, at least 40 or at least 50 symbols.

Previous embodiments can also be realized as software-based filters, inwhich parallelized filter structures and receiving structures areimplemented based on a multitude of computing cores working in parallel.

Even though some aspects have been described within the context of adevice, it is understood that said aspects also represent a descriptionof the corresponding method, so that a block or a structural componentof a device is also to be understood as a corresponding method step oras a feature of a method step. By analogy therewith, aspects that havebeen described within the context of or as a method step also representa description of a corresponding block or detail or feature of acorresponding device. Some or all of the method steps may be performedwhile using a hardware device, such as a microprocessor, a programmablecomputer or an electronic circuit. In some embodiments, some or severalof the most important method steps may be performed by such a device.

Depending on specific implementation requirements, embodiments of theinvention may be implemented in hardware or in software. Implementationmay be effected while using a digital storage medium, for example afloppy disc, a DVD, a Blu-ray disc, a CD, a ROM, a PROM, an EPROM, anEEPROM or a FLASH memory, a hard disc or any other magnetic or opticalmemory which has electronically readable control signals stored thereonwhich may cooperate, or cooperate, with a programmable computer systemsuch that the respective method is performed. This is why the digitalstorage medium may be computer-readable.

Generally, embodiments of the present invention may be implemented as acomputer program product having a program code, the program code beingeffective to perform any of the methods when the computer programproduct runs on a computer.

Other embodiments include the computer program for performing any of themethods described herein, said computer program being stored on amachine-readable carrier.

In other words, an embodiment of the inventive method thus is a computerprogram which has a program code for performing any of the methodsdescribed herein, when the computer program runs on a computer. The datacarrier, the digital storage medium, or the recorded medium aretypically tangible, or non-volatile.

A further embodiment of the inventive method thus is a data stream or asequence of signals representing the computer program for performing anyof the methods described herein. The data stream or the sequence ofsignals may be configured, for example, to be transferred via a datacommunication link, for example via the internet.

A further embodiment includes a processing means, for example a computeror a programmable logic device, configured or adapted to perform any ofthe methods described herein.

A further embodiment includes a computer on which the computer programfor performing any of the methods described herein is installed.

In some embodiments, a programmable logic device (for example afield-programmable gate array, an FPGA) may be used for performing someor all of the functionalities of the methods described herein. In someembodiments, a field-programmable gate array may cooperate with amicroprocessor to perform any of the methods described herein.Generally, the methods are performed, in some embodiments, by anyhardware device. Said hardware device may be any universally applicablehardware such as a computer processor (CPU), or may be a hardwarespecific to the method, such as an ASIC.

While this invention has been described in terms of several embodiments,there are alterations, permutations, and equivalents which fall withinthe scope of this invention. It should also be noted that there are manyalternative ways of implementing the methods and compositions of thepresent invention. It is therefore intended that the following appendedclaims be interpreted as including all such alterations, permutationsand equivalents as fall within the true spirit and scope of the presentinvention.

1. A transmitter for transmitting an output signal, comprising: a firstfilter structure comprising a first combiner configured to extend afirst data signal by a first reference signal in order to acquire afirst extended data signal, and comprising a first IIR filter forfiltering the first extended data signal in order to acquire a firstfiltered data signal; a second filter structure comprising a secondcombiner configured to extend a second data signal by a second referencesignal in order to acquire a second extended data signal, and comprisinga second IIR filter for filtering the second extended data signal inorder to acquire a second filtered data signal; a multiplexer forcombining the first and second filtered data signals in order to acquirethe output signal based on the filtered data signals; wherein a systemresponse of the first IIR filter based on the first reference signalcorresponds to a system response of the second IIR filter based on thesecond reference signal, wherein the first and second combiners areconfigured to insert the reference signal in front of and after a datablock of the data signal, and wherein the IIR filters, the multiplexeror a signal former are configured to reject an acquired filteredreference signal based on the reference signal placed in front of sothat the output signal comprises the filtered data signals and thefiltered reference signals inserted after the data block and does notcomprise the filtered reference signals inserted in front of the datablock.
 2. The transmitter according to claim 1, wherein the firstreference signal and the second reference signal are equal, or whereinthe first IIR filter and the second IIR filter comprise an equal filterstructure with equal filter coefficients.
 3. The transmitter accordingto claim 1, comprising at least a third filter structure comprising athird combiner configured to extend a third data signal by a thirdreference signal in order to acquire a third extended data signal, andcomprising a third IIR filter for filtering the third extended datasignal in order to acquire a third filtered data signal; wherein themultiplexer is configured to combine the first, second and at leastthird filtered data signals in order to acquire the output signal;wherein the system response of the first IIR filter based on the firstreference signal corresponds to the system response of the second IIRfilter based on the second reference signal and to a system response ofthe third IIR filter based on the third reference signal.
 4. Thetransmitter according to claim 1, wherein the first filter structurecomprises a first calculator configured to calculate first redundancyinformation with regard to a first source signal and to combine thefirst redundancy information with the first source signal in order toacquire the first data signal, and wherein the second filter structurecomprises a second calculator configured to calculate second redundancyinformation with regard to a second source signal and to combine thesecond redundancy information with the second source signal in order toacquire the second data signal.
 5. The transmitter according to claim 1,wherein the first and/or the second reference signal do not comprise amean value.
 6. The transmitter according to claim 1, wherein the firstreference signal comprises a data length which is larger than a lengthof the first IIR filter by a factor of more than or equal to
 3. 7. Thetransmitter according to claim 1, wherein the first or the secondcombiner is configured to combine the first or the second referencesignal, respectively, with a modulation degree, wherein the modulationdegree is lower than a modulation degree with which the first or thesecond data signal is modulated.
 8. The transmitter according to claim1, wherein the first and second IIR filters comprise: a plurality offeedback filters configured to filter a signal portion of the first orthe second extended data signal in order to acquire a plurality offiltered signal portions according to the plurality of feedback filters,wherein two successive signal portions partly overlap in an overlappingportion; a signal former configured to combine the plurality of filteredsignal portions to the filtered data signal and to reject overlappingsequences of the filtered signal portions allocated to the overlappingportion of a first and a second filtered signal portion, wherein thesignal former is configured to combine two filtered signal portions oftwo successive signal portions and to reject an overlapping sequencewith the overlapping portion of the second filtered signal portionfollowing the first.
 9. The transmitter according to claim 8, whereinthe overlapping portion corresponds to a length of a data sequence afterwhich the feedback filters have reached a steady state.
 10. Thetransmitter according to claim 8, wherein the filtered data signalcomprises a data structure equal to a data structure which would beacquired when a data signal, to which a reference signal is added, isfiltered by a single IIR filter.
 11. The transmitter according to claim8, wherein a data length of the first reference signal corresponds to adata length of the overlapping portion, and wherein a calculator isconfigured to determine a filter state of a feedback filter of theplurality of feedback filters, which can be acquired in response to thefirst reference signal, to pre-adjust the feedback filter with thefilter state and to provide the feedback filter filtering the signalportion comprising the first reference signal with a modified signalportion not comprising the first reference signal.
 12. The transmitteraccording to claim 8 wherein the multiplexer forms a firstparallelization level of a signal processing of the first and seconddata signals, wherein the first IIR filter forms a secondparallelization level of the signal processing of the first data signaland wherein the second IIR filter forms a second parallelization levelof the signal processing of the second data signal.
 13. The transmitteraccording to claim 1, wherein the IIR filters of the first and secondfilter structures are embodied as Tomlinson-Harashima-precoding filters(THP).
 14. A receiver for receiving an output signal, comprising: ademultiplexer for generating a first and a second receiving signal fromthe received output signal, wherein the output signal comprisesreference signals between data blocks of the output signal, which are asystem-wide known preamble; a first receiving structure comprising afirst equalization filter for equalizing the first receiving signal, andcomprising a first separator configured to separate a first referencesignal from the equalized first receiving signal; a second receivingstructure comprising a second equalization filter for equalizing thesecond receiving signal, and comprising a second separator configured toseparate a second reference signal from the equalized second receivingsignal.
 15. The receiver according to claim 14, further comprising acalculator configured to calculate a temporal distance of the referenceinformation in the first or the second receiving signal and to determinephase correction information based on the temporal distance.
 16. Thereceiver according to claim 14, wherein the first or the secondreceiving structure further comprises a feedback filter structurecomprising a plurality of feedback filters configured to filter a signalportion of the first or the second equalized receiving signal in orderto acquire a plurality of filtered signal portions according to theplurality of feedback filters, wherein two successive signal portionspartially overlap in an overlapping portion; a signal former configuredto combine the plurality of filtered signal portions to the filtereddata signal and to reject overlapping sequences of the filtered signalportions allocated to the overlapping portion of a first and a secondfiltered signal portion, wherein the signal former is configured tocombine two filtered signal portions of two successive signal portionsand to reject an overlapping sequence with the overlapping portion ofthe second filtered signal portion following the first.
 17. The receiveraccording to claim 16, wherein the feedback filter structure of a filterpath is embodied as decision feedback equalization filter (DFE).
 18. Thereceiver according to claim 14, wherein the first or the secondreceiving structure further comprises a feedforward filter structurecomprising a plurality of feedforward filters configured to filter asignal portion of the first or the second receiving signal in order toacquire a plurality of filtered signal portions according to theplurality of feedforward filters, wherein two successive signal portionspartially overlap in an overlapping portion; a signal former configuredto combine the plurality of filtered signal portions to a filtered datasignal and to reject overlapping sequences of the filtered signalportions allocated to the overlapping portion of a first and a secondfiltered signal portion, wherein the signal former is configured tocombine two filtered signal portions of two successive signal portionsand to reject an overlapping sequence with the overlapping portion ofthe second filtered signal portion following the first.
 19. The receiveraccording to claim 14, wherein the first receiving structure comprises afirst feedback filter structure comprising a plurality of feedbackfilters, wherein the second receiving structure comprises a secondfeedback filter structure comprising a plurality of feedback filters,wherein the demultiplexer forms a first parallelization level of asignal processing of the first and second receiving signals, wherein thefirst feedback filter structure forms a second parallelization level ofthe signal processing of the first receiving signal and wherein thesecond feedback filter structure forms a second parallelization level ofthe signal processing of the second receiving signal.
 20. A transfersystem comprising: a transmitter according to claim 1; a receiveraccording to claim 14; wherein the transmitter and the receiver arecoupled via a transfer medium.
 21. A method for transmitting an outputsignal, comprising: extending a first data signal by a first referencesignal in order to acquire a first extended data signal; filtering thefirst extended data signal with a first IIR filter in order to acquire afirst filtered data signal; extending a second data signal by a secondreference signal in order to acquire a second extended data signal;filtering the second extended data signal with a second IIR filter inorder to acquire a second filtered data signal; combining the first andsecond filtered data signals in order to acquire the output signal basedon the filtered data signals; wherein a system response of the first IIRfilter based on the first reference signal corresponds to a systemresponse of the second IIR filter based on the second reference signal,wherein the reference signal is inserted in front of and after a datablock of the data signal, and wherein an acquired filtered referencesignal is rejected based on the reference signal placed in front of sothat the output signal comprises the filtered data signals and thefiltered reference signals inserted after the data block and does notcomprise the filtered reference signals inserted in front of the datablock.
 22. A method for receiving an output signal, comprising:generating a first and a second receiving signal from the receivedoutput signal, wherein the output signal comprises reference signalsbetween data blocks of the output signal, which are a system-wide knownpreamble; equalizing the first receiving signal; separating a firstreference signal from the equalized first receiving signal; equalizingthe second receiving signal; separating a second reference signal fromthe equalized second receiving signal; and filtering a signal portion ofthe first or the second equalized receiving signal with a plurality offeedback filters in order to acquire a plurality of filtered signalportions according to the plurality of feedback filters in such a waythat two successive signal portions partially overlap in an overlappingportion; combining the plurality of filtered signal portions to thefiltered data signal and rejecting overlapping sequences of the filteredsignal portions allocated to the overlapping portion of a first and asecond filtered signal portion; and combining two filtered signalportions of two successive signal portions and rejecting an overlappingsequence with the overlapping portion of the second filtered signalportion following the first.
 23. The method according to claim 22,further comprising: synchronizing the generation of the first and secondreceiving signals with respect to a start and/or an end of a block size,a frequency or a phase of the received output signal or the first andsecond receiving signals based on filtering and detecting a referencesignal which is transmitted using the method according to claim
 22. 24.A non-transitory digital storage medium having a computer program storedthereon to perform the method for transmitting an output signal,comprising: extending a first data signal by a first reference signal inorder to acquire a first extended data signal; filtering the firstextended data signal with a first IIR filter in order to acquire a firstfiltered data signal; extending a second data signal by a secondreference signal in order to acquire a second extended data signal;filtering the second extended data signal with a second IIR filter inorder to acquire a second filtered data signal; combining the first andsecond filtered data signals in order to acquire the output signal basedon the filtered data signals; wherein a system response of the first IIRfilter based on the first reference signal corresponds to a systemresponse of the second IIR filter based on the second reference signal,wherein the reference signal is inserted in front of and after a datablock of the data signal, and wherein an acquired filtered referencesignal is rejected based on the reference signal placed in front of sothat the output signal comprises the filtered data signals and thefiltered reference signals inserted after the data block and does notcomprise the filtered reference signals inserted in front of the datablock, when said computer program is run by a computer.
 25. Anon-transitory digital storage medium having a computer program storedthereon to perform the method for receiving an output signal,comprising: generating a first and a second receiving signal from thereceived output signal, wherein the output signal comprises referencesignals between data blocks of the output signal, which are asystem-wide known preamble; equalizing the first receiving signal;separating a first reference signal from the equalized first receivingsignal; equalizing the second receiving signal; separating a secondreference signal from the equalized second receiving signal; andfiltering a signal portion of the first or the second equalizedreceiving signal with a plurality of feedback filters in order toacquire a plurality of filtered signal portions according to theplurality of feedback filters in such a way that two successive signalportions partially overlap in an overlapping portion; combining theplurality of filtered signal portions to the filtered data signal andrejecting overlapping sequences of the filtered signal portionsallocated to the overlapping portion of a first and a second filteredsignal portion; and combining two filtered signal portions of twosuccessive signal portions and rejecting an overlapping sequence withthe overlapping portion of the second filtered signal portion followingthe first, when said computer program is run by a computer.